Tag: ZimDecides18

Editorial Comment CENTRAL bank opens up currency trading, reads a headline in a State-owned daily newspaper. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has liberalised the foreign currency market by introducing an interbank trading system that will result in exchange rates being determined by the forces of supply and demand to encourage inflows into the formal market, the story read. Individuals, embassies and other institutions will now sell their foreign currency to banks and other authorised dealers on a willing-buyer/willing-seller basis, it added. Sounds familiar? Yes, because that was on May…

BY OBEY MANAYITI THE Nelson Chamisa-led MDC yesterday said it will snub another round of national dialogue slated for today, claiming President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF government is not taking their concerns seriously. Mnangagwa recently invited 22 losing presidential aspirants in last year’s harmonised elections for talks, but Chamisa snubbed the gesture. The following day, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches organised a prayer breakfast meeting, which Chamisa attended, but Mnangagwa was in no-show. Although a majority of small parties will likely attend, Zanu PF and MDC have traded barbs over…

BY RICHARD CHIDZA THE opposition MDC led by Nelson Chamisa is likely to hold its congress in October after a national standing committee meeting held on Wednesday failed to come up with a date, NewsDay has learnt. Sources who attended the meeting said there were heated exchanges during the meeting over the interpretation of the party’s constitution. But Chamisa told his lieutenants that he would have the final word. Chamisa reportedly clashed with party secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora after the latter recused himself from indicating which date he preferred congress to…

By Farai Matiashe First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and Environment minister Prisca Mupfumira (pictured) yesterday toured Cricket and Silver Moon mines in Battlefields, where at least 24 artisanal miners drowned last week. Speaking during the tour, Mupfumira said the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Zimbabwe Mining Federation (ZMF) should work closely in order to avert such mining disasters. “There is need to collaborate on issues of compliance, registration and strict observation of safety regulations,” she said. She said miners should take serious safety recommendations and warnings when they are made…

by Online Reporter Minister Of Environment, Tourism & Hospitality Industry Priscah Mupfumira has called on the Environmental Management Agency and the Zimbabwe Mining Federation to work closely in order to avert mining disasters. Mupfumira was speaking on the sidelines of the First Lady, Amai Auxillia Mnangwagwa’s tour of the site where the tragic drowning of 24 artisanal miners at Cricket and Silver Moon mines in Battlefields occurred last week. “I call upon EMA, Mines Ministry and the Mining Federation to work together to avoid such disasters from happening in the…

Editorial Comment Finally, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) saw the sense of devaluing the local bond note currency and the fallacy of the 1:1 exchange rate parity with the United States dollar after doggedly keeping a policy it well knew was disastrous for the economy, especially considering a public and business suspicious of anything this administration does. Zimbabwe has struggled to earn the US$, the currency it adopted after ditching its hyperinflation-ravaged currency back in 2009, but a local currency was not envisaged until it has enough supporting fundamentals.…

Eddie Cross BY FIDELITY MHLANGA/VENERANDA LANGA/MISHMA CHAKANYUKA/RUTENDO MATANHIKE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya yesterday announced the eagerly awaited monetary policy for 2019, in which he liberalised the trade of foreign currency and effectively declared the real time gross settlement (RTGS) dollar as the local currency. Below are reactions from analysts, economists and industrialists: Godfrey Kanyenze, director for Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe: The RTGS dollar is a local currency that has been introduced by the governor. It is a desperate measure that the governor…

BY XOLISANI NCUBE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his top lieutenants in the military have been left out of the European Union (EU)’s latest sanctions list despite widespread calls for their censure over the army’s recent brutal crackdown on civilian protesters. The EU imposed sanctions against former President Robert Mugabe’s government in 2000 and has since then maintained the restrictive measures, although gradually relaxing them to allow for implementation of political and economic reforms by the Zanu PF regime. On Monday, the EU head of policy, Federica Mogherini said the bloc’s…

BY Obey Manayiti Cabinet yesterday approved the formulation of the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill to replace the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), while work on three other pieces of legislation to replace the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) are already underway. Addressing journalists after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the new Bill was in conformity with the Constitution. “Cabinet received a report on a new Bill, which is the Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill following the approval by Cabinet…

BY Ruvimbo Muchenje THE City of Harare risks exhausting its underground water reserves soon due to uncontrolled infrastructural development, which has seen people building on wetlands and conducting agricultural activities, water activists have said. Harare Wetlands Trust said council was exposing residents to an environment disaster through unsustainable use of wetlands by allocating stands on the preserved sites. Trust official Julia Pierini told NewsDay on the sidelines of the master plan review of Harare City Council yesterday that erecting structures on wetlands and sinking boreholes in such areas reduced the…